50 Book Challenge 2014 Part 3

[Southeastdweller]

Thread 3 of the 50 book challenge. Here are the previous threads...

The idea is to read 50 books in 2014 (or more!)

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adult_fiction/1951735-50-Book-Challenge-2014

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adult_fiction/2000991-50-Book-Challenge-2014-Part-2?

Remus that's a really interesting POV re Gatsby.

I read it at the beginning of the year as I have several friends who rave about it, and whilst it had it's moments I was decidedly 'meh' by the end.

Must admit, that I enjoyed 'Gatsby' much more on re-reading it than I did the first time. I think my biggest problem with it is that the narrator is so dull - basking in the glory of Gatsby, whilst having so little to offer himself, and therefore that the viewpoint is all a bit insipid, maybe?

I loved Mr Whicher, it did kind of fizzle out in the last bit but overall I found it really gripping.

Gatsby I read for the first time last year - had to force myself through it a bit, it just didn't do much for me.

I think for me it didn't have much of a plot...I was concentrating on the 'story' rather than the characters when there wasn't really one in the first place!

Agree that the narrator was v. boring.

Was also sorely disappointed with Madame Bovary which I read last year. I gave up 3/4 of the way through as it was taking me forever and I realised I simply couldn't care less what the outcome was for any of the characters.

Started The Red House by Mark Haddon earlier this week - it's a slow burn but engrossing. Characters very well written.

hackmum thanks. I've started her first ever novel and will follow up with a later one Seven Sisters. My thoughts on them soon.

49.The One Plus One - Jojo Moyes.
50. The Making of us - Lisa jewell. I was really irritated by the geographical inaccuracies in this. The author seemed to have no idea of the layout of Wales.

And I promised myself that this year I would read less chick lit as it only makes me cross. Grr.

Book 66 Lost In A Good Book by Jasper Fforde

I felt the need for something light-hearted, so re-read this one. Thursday Next is married to the love of her life and being feted as a celebrity for her rescue of Jane Eyre. But things take a turn for the worse when improbable coincidences keep conspiring to nearly kill her, and it turns out her husband drowned 38 years ago with no one other than Thursday remembering him.

Fforde has a definite flair for the surreal in the literary world he has created, but it all makes an odd sort of sense too. It was just what I needed this week!

I love Fforde. I'm due a reread

I've never read Fforde. Will definitely research his books as that plot sounds good Chillie. Thanks for the description.

I love love love this thread! It's renewed my love of reading.

I don't get on with JF at all. Thinks he's far more clever and funny than he actually is, imvho. A shame, because the ideas are good.

Completely agree, Remus, though I've only read one of his books (The Eyre Affair).

Nor me, tried one of DD's earlier this week. I can't stand characters with silly names for a start.

Just researched JF on Amazon. Not my type of genre but I might check him out at the library just to try something new.

25. The Summer Bird-Cage, Margaret Drabble When I started reading this novel I thought, "What a dreary read with a cast of whiney, self-indulgent, indulged 20-somethings indolently casting about for a life for themselves..." Then I realised this was Drabble's first ever novel, written in her early 20s, and set in the early 60s when women were just beginning to question their roles in life, challenging the expectation that they automatically marry and give up work.

Suddenly I was able to reassess the book: interesting insights into sibling rivalry and finding one's way as a recently independent(-ish) young woman, full of depth, beautifully written. A slow burn of a book for me, but one that I suspect will benefit from a re-read or three.

26. The Seven Sisters, Margaret Drabble Candida Wilton, fast approaching pensionable age, has spent her life as a docile dormouse, at the mercy of her husband and children. After her divorce from her adulterous husband, she daringly moves to a dingy flat in London and slowly builds a new life for herself. But it's only after she receives a financial windfall and visits Italy with a group of old and new friends - the "Seven Sisters" - that life blossoms for her into one of colour and adventure. I really enjoyed this book. The characterisation of all the women was marvellous and it has some evocative descriptions of place (Suffolk, Ladbroke Grove, Tunis, Naples, Pompeii).

I think I'll now read Elizabeth Gilbert's The Signature of All Things. It's a hefty tome, so reading it may take a while.

86. The Orpheus Descent, Tom Harper. Archaeologist finds ancient artefact, ends up kidnapped by bad guys etc etc. Okay - quite liked the missing wife part of the plot, but there wasn't that much action, there was too much reliance on mysterious females turning up to further the plot, and the final sequence was based on hallucinations, which is a cop-out.

87. A Village Affair, Joanna Trollope. Initially really disliked the main character, Alice. Oh, her suffering when her mother served up Indian tea in a mug rather than China tea in a painted cup with a lemon! Gets more interesting with the introduction of a gay love affair - but my, attitudes have come on a lot in the last 25 years. Showing its age.

88. The Mauritius Command, Patrick O'Brian. Read the whole series 8 years ago and haven't gone back to them since. Had forgotten the sly humour throughout, which keeps me going through some fairly incomprehensible naval maneouvres.

A bit late, but Cheboludo, thanks for mentioning The Bitch in the Bonnet. I didn't read the book, but I had a look at the website and enjoyed it.

whitewine, I love the Provincial Lady! The first is probably my favourite, I don't care much for the US trip, but I also love the Provincial Lady in Wartime, because Pussy Winter-Gammon is such a fantastic character. Have you read any other books by EMD? The Way Things Are is a cross between Provincial Lady and The End of the Affair. I also like Thank Heaven Fasting, although it's not played for laughs so much - you sense the despair women felt when marriage was the only real life option.

17 Game of Thrones, George R R Martin
18 Love, Nina, Nina Stibbe

BsshBosh, A Summer Bird-Cage is an old favourite of mine. I might have to read The Seven Sisters now! Possession by AS Byatt (her sister) is a fascinating book too.

40. This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson, about the life of Robert FitzRoy, who was captain of the Beagle when Darwin made his famous voyage to South America. I really enjoyed this book - it's an account of an amazing exploration and then follows up on the main characters after they return to England, with historical details about the 19th century, the introduction of Darwin's controversial (at the time) natural selection theory and the personal life of an unusual man. Cote - maybe one for you if you haven't already read it?

Tumble - I love that book I read it a while back, upon Remus's recommendation.

67. David Baldacci - One Summer
68. Lee Child - Echo Burning
69. Diane Chamberlain - Secrets She Left Behind
70. Lee Child - Without Fail
71. Audrey Howard - Whispers on the Water
72. Emma Milne - Tails from the Tail End
73. Lindsay Kelk - I heart NY
74. Lindsey Kelk - I heart Hollywood
75. Lindsey Kelk - I heart Paris
76. Lee Child - Persuader
77. Louise Douglas - Secrets Between Us
78. Victoria Fox - Power Games
79. Holly Martin - 100 Perfect Proposals

Great book, Tumble. It's one of the few which Cote and I agree on! :)

Cote - have you read the French classic thing I mentioned earlier?

83. Ian Rankin "Mortal Causes"

56: The Irish are Coming by Ryan Tubridy.

This is why I need to stop browsing in libraries. I can't resist the bookish equivalent of those dreadful compilation shows. Here, Tubridy presents a list of Irish people who've been really successful in the UK. It's as bad as it sounds (prob worse as the writing's pretty dreadful & I spotted a number of mistakes). Oh well, at least I discovered Pierce Brosnan would have been Bond earlier had it not been for pesky tv contracts (& poss inspiration for series 3 of Episodes).

Catching up on the thread:
ShanghaiDiva Lord, Skios is dreadful, no? It might just have worked if he'd set it in the 80s but attempting a mistaken identity farce in the era of google & Facebook is ridiculous.

Mr Whicher was too dry for me, I gave up half way through. But I have really liked most of the McEwans I've read, esp Atonement & On Chesil Beach.

Remus The Guardian has been banging on about Les Grandes Meaulnes for the last few years, someone there really loves it. I almost bought a remaindered copy last month but realised it was in French when I went to read the synopsis.

BsshBosh Very interesting that you mention sibling rivalry in Drabble's first novel as virtually the only thing I know about her is her huge feud with her sister (AS Byatt). I agree with tumbletumble that Possession is fantastic.

bibliomania You're welcome re:Bitch in a Bonnet. I suspect the whole book was lifted from the blog so I don't blame you for reading it there! Thankfully the ebook was very cheap, or I'd be kicking myself.

Oh, and I love the early Jasper FForde's but hate the later ones.

Remus - I don't read books in French and frankly that book sounds like something I would actively avoid in any language. Lost love, sweet & sad story, adolescence - all literary themes I run miles to avoid. Oh and I hated Catcher In The Rye - possibly the only novel I have ever left unfinished

But it is apparently a classic - you would hate it, but I wondered if you'd read it in your youth or anything, or at least had heard of it. I had never heard of it, ever. Unusual for a so-called classic book to have passed me by completely. 'Catcher' leaves me cold, but I like 'Franny and Zooey.'